Steady Flow

Over the last decade, penal plumbing has evolved so gradually that important advances are easy take for granted. Suicide-resistant plumbing is slowly spreading beyond its usual application in juvenile facilities. Meanwhile, electronic water management systems continue to provide correctional staff with plumbing that is both more efficient and offers control over inmate behavior.

 

Broad acceptance of the newer features is not always immediate, however. Though stainless steel fixtures have long been accepted as less of a security risk than porcelain, it was only three years ago that the Federal Bureau of Prisons changed its specifications to require stainless steel over porcelain.

The change came at a good time for the penal plumbing industry, which was seeing a sharp drop-off in new prison construction at the state level, while the fast-growing FBOP was quickly surpassing Texas and California as the largest prison system in the United States. Federal work continues to be the biggest source of contracts for providers of penal plumbing, according to Craig Alderson, president of Willoughby.

"Suicide-resistant fixtures have become popular within the last two years, especially with juvenile facilities," says Alderson. "There are certain kinds of controls, such as push-buttons and specialized shower heads, that are suicide-resistant as well."

Suicide-resistant fixtures got their first big push in Australia, where Aboriginal inmates have a high rate of suicide attempts. Massachusetts and New Jersey were among the first to embrace them in the United States, but have yet to become the norm, even in juvenile facilities and mental health units. Massachusetts remains one of the few states requiring noose-proof skirts in adult correctional facilities.

Sales are increasing steadily. "Arizona just did a renovation on some facilities with suicide-resistant fixtures. In some cases, what happens is that it’s done after there’s a suicide that creates concern. Often, what happens after the fact drives a lot of our business," Alderson says.

VACUUM SYSTEMS

One expensive but cost category of penal plumbing systems, vacuum toilets, offers both security and water savings. If an inmate flushes a sabotage object such as socks or a sheet, thanks to the vacuum system’s valves not only is the object less likely to make it down into the pipes, personnel have an easier time locating both the blockage and the culprit, because the object is unlikely to travel past the valve.

If it does make it past the valve, the object is sure to be found at the end of the system, not at some inaccessible halfway point. "We’re also told that inmates pass contraband from fixture to fixture when they figure out how the gravity system is designed, when two or four fixtures are tied together," says Greg Riphagen of Acorn Engineering. "It’s not something you hear about often, but you do hear about it."

Vacuum plumbing’s water conservation advantages are impressive. "If you take that average inmate who flushes 24 times a day, and you limit that to 12 per cell. You save on the water going in and the waste going out, which also creates an expense," Riphagen explains. "Comparing traditional gravity systems to the vacuum system, you use 36 gallons versus 12 gallons on the same amount of flushes."

ELECTRONIC MANAGEMENT

Like vacuum plumbing, electronic plumbing management is an established – though still not widely chosen option – that doesn’t suffer from a lack of interested jail and prison administrators. "There’s far more end users interested in computerized plumbing and vacuum systems then there are end users who can afford them," says Riphagen. "The upfront costs shoot a purchase down 90 percent of the time."

Correctional professionals grasp immediately the improved control electronic management gives their staff. When an inmate flushes his toilet, remote control can provide a lockout period that controls attempts to overflow the toilet. Electronics will lock out the inmate for a period of time and, depending on the sophistication of the electronics, staff can set a dial or program a computer.

"We have one offering that’s just a knob that sets the number of seconds to minutes, so when he flushes, you set that knob at nine minutes. I have more sophisticated types of electronics that can be set anywhere from one second to 89 minutes to lock an inmate out," says Riphagen. "One popular program allows end-users to modify the electronics to allow two flushes within a period of time, and then a lock out period. This is often requested for cells with two inmates."

According to Riphagen, flood control options have been particularly popular. "The water level in a toilet reaches a certain level, our flood control device shuts down automatically," he says. Electronic plumbing is used not only to control inmate sabotage and disruption, it can be used to quell disturbances of any type, including riots. "Correctional officers can take an inmate’s toilet away, or take his hot or cold water away to encourage compliance," Riphagen says.

While it can be hard for correctional officials to sell to county commissioners or state budget committees on computerized plumbing, there are many different good reasons to try. Conservation may be the selling point here. The average inmate flushes between 23 and 25 times per day, Riphagen says. "Electronics limits that. They don’t have anything else to do." The more sophisticated electronics can lock out the entire facility.

"We’re still seeing more and more jobs that are specified as electronic," says Willoughby’s Alderson. "Or portions of it, meaning perhaps that the segregation unit only is electronic."

That’s fine for a newer facility with the latest electrical systems, but what about a 50-year-old facility that would require a doubly-expensive electronic retrofit? "Older facilities are also coming back to us looking to conserve water, so we also have electronics that are battery operated so you don’t have a full electrical retrofit," replies Riphagen.

Attractive plumbing options may not be out of reach. Even in a time of sporadic construction starts and tight budgets, correctional planners should consider the benefits of the penal plumbing advances of the last 10 years.